From the ground up...

I'm interested if anyone has any inspiring stories about starting with nothing and growing into a large landscaping company? What inspired you? How did you grow yourself? Have you built relationships with other landscaping companies to bounce ideas off of? And if any of you guys would be interested in connecting via e-mail or skype to build a mentor/student relationship?

I greatly appreciate all of your input, experiences, mistakes, knowledge and wisdom.

i started off with two old 21 push mowers and just started from there we were 13 and in ohio there were no "big businesses" booming around us. It was struggle in between school and the weather. I slowly started growing by word of mouth and slowly but surely I also i never bought anything i couldnt afford. I started off with a homelite backpack blower and a craftsman trimmer. It wasnt easy to get a start. Im 21 now with a 02 3/4 ton with a dump insert and equipment out the wazoo and close to 40 clients and going to college full time and working part time. The hardest thing now is just trying to juggle it all. The equipment i have is all commercial with two zs (one commercial homeowner unit and a scag wildcat) a 32" metro w/bagger, and two commercial toro 21s. Also two stihl Fs90s and echo blowers. just to start. Never be afraid to charge what you need to make money, and never be afraid to take on a challenge. Also if you have clients that dont wanna pay or skip payments (hard to collect off of) dont deal with them. A couple words of advice even though they might be friends or complete strangers always treat them like future clients. Cause once you have a good reputation built thats something you cant ever loose. this site has also been very helpful any time you have a question someone will answer it regardless if its something simple or about a equipment, someone will get ya an answer. Also get to know some fellow landscapers (competition) always treat them with respect and never step over the line. Majority of the time they were like you and will be willing to help out (since their well to do) they wont be worried about you stealing business (unless your a lowballer, then you'll get stoned most likely).

Its a unit with grease in the joints that see most use (casters,lift system etc) and it has a welded deck not stamped big difference. Also it tends to smaller (lighter) then a full size unit.Posted via Mobile Device